I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cooling devices, and more particularly to an apparatus for cooling the brakes of a vehicle.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Automobile racing has long enjoyed popularity as a sport. One type of vehicle commonly raced is the stock car, having a conventionally styled automobile body, and usually including recesses in the body front or grille for receiving headlamps.
Stock cars can achieve speeds upwards of two hundred (200) miles per hour on closed tracks. At such speeds a significant amount of energy is required to slow or stop the car. Disc brakes are most often used to slow and stop vehicles, and include a caliper which forces a wear resistant material into frictional abutment with the metal surface of a brake disc. The kinetic energy of the vehicle is transformed to thermal energy and taken up by the metal disc and friction material. Unfortunately, the heat involved on repeated or high speed braking can be so great as to decrease the friction between the metal disc and the friction pad, causing fading or failure of the brake, until the components are allowed to cool.
This problem can be obviated by cooling the brake assembly during use. Prior attempts to prevent overheating, however, have not been completely successful. While mechanical or fluid cooling structures are known, these are often very costly and complex, subject to breakdown.
One simple method for cooling brake assemblies has been to feed oncoming air from the front of the vehicle by a flexible funnel and hose, which is allowed to impinge upon the brake disc and caliper. Such a method has not been completely successful, however, since the oncoming air almost always includes particulate and contaminant matter, including tire rubber, oil absorbent, stones, dirt and other small debris, even occasionally including a metallic part such as a nut or bolt from another vehicle. Disposing a screen in the air intake has not been an adequate solution, because such screens readily clog during race conditions, particularly during longer races, and can also be perforated by dense debris, in either case deleteriously effecting the utility of the cooling device.